This book had the honour of being my first read of 2018. I picked it up on a browse through the library, mostly because of these three things:
All of those things are usually winners for me.
It’s 1940 and the village of Chilbury has been rocked by the war. As husbands and sons leave to fight, the Vicar decides that the choir must be disbanded until the menfolk return. But not everyone is happy about that decision. With a bit of pluck, and the help of newly arrived Miss Primrose Trent, previous Professor of Music at Litchfield University, the choir is reinstated and proves to be a powerful unifying force for the village as they experience the joys and the hardships of a life lived in wartime.
Loosely epistolary, the novel is told through letters and diaries of various of Chilbury’s residents. There’s retiring Miss Tilling who will find her feet in quite heroic fashion, sisters Kitty and Venetia Winthrop, struggling with the trials of growing up under a tyrannical father, and the distinctly shady Edwina Paltry, the local midwife. I liked the shift in perspectives very much, although, as ever, there’s a fine line with novels written in this fashion between including the rich descriptions, narrative detail and literary touches the author is capable of, and staying true to the voices of your characters. On balance, I forgave the decidedly literary skills of some of the characters because of the many lovely moments of poignant insight that Ryan brought to the familiar tale of the home front.
The choir itself is described beautifully and acts as a great focal point for both cast and plot – a great example of the transformative and healing properties of music (something I personally believe in wholeheartedly).
Fans of The Guernsey and Literary Potato Peel Pie Society will find much to enjoy here. It has that same sense of community, of strength in adversity. To borrow a cliche or two, it’s one of those gentle books that will warm your cockles. Ryan writes characters that you care about, even if they, at times, felt a little like characters I’d encountered in other stories of this era and type. There’s plenty of surrounding plot to drive forward the story of the choir itself and each of the characters evolves convincingly throughout the course of the book. There’s a very large and unresolved plot point come the end though, which makes me wonder if Ryan has plans for a sequel. I certainly wouldn’t mind spending a bit more time with the Chilbury residents.
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